STiR coffee and tea magazine

24 STiR coffee and tea | 2024 Issue 3 (June / July) CHICAGO meta-cupping session powered by Tastify introduced the Specialty Coffee Association's new Coffee Value Assessment (CVA) to 50 appreciative buyers matched to green coffee sellers seated in the same room. Coffee Is More Than a Score Meta-cupping goes beyond describing the physical attributes of coffee to add value associated with extrinsic and intangible attributes. Participants registered for the inaugural Green Coffee Buyers & Sellers Program weeks before the Specialty Coffee Expo, that convened in Chicago in April. They ex- changed details about themselves, their farms, roasting operations, and business objec- tives. Prices and quantities and the all-important cuppings were then scheduled during the event. This year's expo drew 17,000 coffee and tea professionals from 85 countries and 602 exhibitors, breaking attendance and exhibitor records set in 2019. SCA CEO Yannis Apostolopoulos said the open tasting provided a "unique sen- sory exploration space" for participants to explore aspects of the new coffee value assessment format and learn about coffee's intrinsic and extrinsic values. The Tastify application enables cuppers to enter their coffee quality scores using a cell phone or laptop. Olga L. Cuellar Gomez, an independent consultant and founder of Promising Crops in Colombia, supervised the cupping. "This is not going to be blind; it's an open cupping, and we are going to talk about values," Gomez explained. She instructed participants to download Wordly, an AI app that translated the presentations into several languages in real time. Peter Giuliano, executive director at the Coffee Science Foundation, then instruct- ed participants on how to assess a coffee's extrinsic qualities. He explained that the Tastify form enables cuppers to record additional information related to farming, pro- cessing, trading, and certifications, which could contribute to its value. I had cupped and previously assessed the physical characteristics of the three cof- fees Olga's team served. Using a modified SCA Scoring form on Tastify, I could review processing attributes, certifications, and, my favorite, the story of the coffee. SCA hosts trade-focused sessions to encourage interaction as part of a program that matches roasters and coffee buyers with green coffee sellers. Olga Cuellar Gomez, founder of Promising Crops in Colombia, led the Green Coffee Connect cupping at the Specialty Coffee Expo in Chicago. Participants at the SCA meta-cupping started by assessing the physical characteristics from farmers in Peru, Colombia and Brazil. Green Coffee Connect By Dan Bolton A

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